The role of the interpreter in constructing asylum seeker’s credibility: A hearing at the Spanish Asylum and Refugee Office

Authors

  • Isabel Gómez Díez Universiteit Antwerpen Author

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.1558/sols.v4i2.333

Keywords:

DISCOURSE ANALYSIS, ROLE ANALYSIS, ASYLUM (HEARING), REFUGEE, COMMUNITY INTERPRETING, GATEKEEPING (ENCOUNTER), SPAIN, ALTERATION, CREDIBILITY

Abstract

The paper’s objective is to establish the interpreter’s role in the construction of the asylum seeker’s credibility during the interaction at asylum hearings. To illustrate this, I perform a discourse analysis of the interaction at an asylum hearing with a Nigerian applicant and an English-Spanish interpreter, taking place at the Oficina de asilo y refugio in Madrid (Spain) in 2005. Firstly, I identify the functions adopted by the interpreter in the hearing, the interactional sequence generated by his working method and its impact on his translation activity. Secondly, I focus on the alterations in the interpreter’s rendition which may have an impact on the applicant’s credibility and I set out to elucidate the factors explaining these alterations.

Author Biography

  • Isabel Gómez Díez, Universiteit Antwerpen
    Isabel Gómez Díez holds a doctorate in Language Science and Applied Linguistics from the Universidad Pompeu Fabra (Spain). Her doctoral dissertation is in the field of discourse analysis and deals with interactive and discursive practices in the Belgian asylum procedure, which may have an influence in the handling of the application. She is currently Chargée de Cours Invitee [guest professor] of Spanish language and linguistics at the Faculty of Philosophy and Letters of the Université Catholique de Louvain (Belgium).

Published

2011-01-16

How to Cite

Díez, I. G. (2011). The role of the interpreter in constructing asylum seeker’s credibility: A hearing at the Spanish Asylum and Refugee Office. Sociolinguistic Studies, 4(2), 333-370. https://doi.org/10.1558/sols.v4i2.333